Midkiff & Austin  “The Next Right Thing” 44 “The Next Right Thing”: Frozen 2 and Youth-Led Activism Emily Midkiff, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA Sara Austin, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Owensboro, KY, USA Abstract In “The Disneyfication of Climate Crisis: Negotiating Responsibility and Climate Action in Frozen, Moana, and Frozen 2,” we argue that Frozen, Frozen 2, and Moana encourage young people to identify with princesses who take action against metaphorical climate change. Although the films are hampered by Disney’s own capitalist framework, extratextual discussion and activities can push young viewers past these limitations. This article demonstrates how to use Frozen 2 as a springboard for effective ecopedagogy in elementary-school settings. Keywords ecopedagogy, Disney, youth participatory action research (YPAR), activism, Frozen, Frozen 2, Moana In “The Disneyfication of Climate Crisis: Negotiating Responsibility and Climate Action in Frozen, Moana, and Frozen 2,” we argue that Frozen, Frozen 2, and Moana encourage young people to identify with princesses who take action against metaphorical climate change, even if the films do not achieve fully effective ecopedagogy as defined by scholars such as Moacir Gadotti, Angela Atunes, Richard Kahn, and Greta Gaard. The films themselves are hampered by Disney’s own capitalist framework, but extratextual discussion and activities can push young viewers past the limitations of the films toward a more fully realized and active ecopedagogy. This article focuses on using Frozen 2 as a springboard for effective ecopedagogy in elementary-school contexts. Our original “Disneyfication” article is guided by Gaard’s analysis of ecopedagogy, which can be condensed into three questions to ask of children’s environmental media: 1) does it challenge the binary and power imbalance of human/nature?; 2) does a community or solitary child solve the environmental issues?; and 3) does it describe nature as having subjectivity and agency, or is nature passively rescued? (pp. 327–30). As we conclude, Frozen 2 does particularly well at giving nature its own agency, satisfying the third of Gaard’s criteria. However, Frozen 2 does not quite meet the https://www.climatelit.org/topic/ecopedagogy/ https://yparhub.berkeley.edu/home https://www.climatelit.org/topic/activism/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/frozen/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/frozen-2/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/frozen-2/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/youth-activism-marine-conservation-and-ecofeminism/ https://muse.jhu.edu/article/819552/summary https://muse.jhu.edu/article/819552/summary https://muse.jhu.edu/article/819552/summary https://muse.jhu.edu/article/819552/summary https://muse.jhu.edu/article/819552/summary https://muse.jhu.edu/article/819552/summary https://muse.jhu.edu/article/819552/summary https://muse.jhu.edu/article/819552/summary https://www.climatelit.org/literature/frozen/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/frozen-2/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/youth-activism-marine-conservation-and-ecofeminism/ https://www.climatelit.org/topic/ecopedagogy/ Climate Literacy in Education, Volume 1, Issue 1 (Spring 2023) 45 other two criteria. In order to mobilize the film as an effective ecopedagogical tool, the work started in the film must be finished outside of it through discussion, research, and projects. From the start, expanding on the ecopedagogical potential of Frozen 2 must be grounded in a willingness to let go of the traditional power associated with adults and teaching. Gaard argues that effective ecopedagogy challenges the binary and power imbalance of humans versus nature as well as the parallel relationship of children versus adults. Therefore, research and activism extending from this film should be youth-led. This means going beyond constructivist principles of education and farther into surrendering adult control over the learning situation. The Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) approach offers guidance for adults who want to learn how to put power in the hands of young people to develop more equitable adult-child community partnerships. YPAR is designed with middle and high-school-aged young people in mind, but children in elementary school can achieve similar levels of leadership through an intentionally designed sequence of lessons that utilize P. David Pearson & Margaret C. Gallagher’s model of gradually releasing responsibility. Children who are accustomed to top-down structures in their classrooms, especially, will benefit from a slow introduction to having the power to direct research and produce solutions alongside adult collaborators. The process of gradually helping children recognize their own potential as activists can begin with the modeling present in Frozen 2 itself. The characters Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff may be much older than elementary school students, but we describe in our “Disneyfication” article how these protagonists are designed to encourage children to identify with them. In order to prompt children to think more about how these characters are problem-solvers, students can be asked to describe how each of these characters recognizes a problem and takes action to resolve it or help another character resolve it. This conversation can lead into discussion of individual heroism versus community solutions. In our “Disneyfication” article, we show how Frozen 2 relies too heavily on individual action rather than community activism, which is another of Gaard’s criteria for effective ecopedagogy. Pairing the film with nonfiction books about community activism could produce more helpful comparisons about how real people take action and how this looks similar to and different from the action the characters take in the film. Ideally, these books would demonstrate adults and children working side by side rather than “heroic” but isolated celebrity child activists. Examples might include Christina Soontornvat and Rahele Jomepour Bell’s To Change a Planet, books about Indigenous community relationships to the natural world such as Traci Sorell and Frane Lessac’s We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, or books about communities in nature such as Tara Kelley and Marie Hermansson’s Listen to the Language of the Trees. Teachers might also be tempted by project books such as Penny Arlon, Susuan Hayes, and Pintachan’s The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself, and while having a few such books on hand for students to see as models might be helpful, one of the foundational principles of ecopedagogy is that children develop projects for themselves rather than rely on adults to provide the ideas and materials. In addition to encouraging activism in young people, Frozen 2 offers natural opportunities to explore the topics of damage to water and forest ecosystems, colonial violence against nature https://yparhub.berkeley.edu/home https://yparhub.berkeley.edu/home https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0361476X8390019X?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0361476X8390019X?via%3Dihub https://www.climatelit.org/literature/to-change-a-planet/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/we-are-grateful-otsaliheliga/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/we-are-grateful-otsaliheliga/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/listen-to-the-language-of-the-trees/ https://www.climatelit.org/literature/the-extraordinary-book-that-eats-itself/ https://www.climatelit.org/topic/animals/forests/ https://www.climatelit.org/topic/industry/human-impact/colonization/ Midkiff & Austin  “The Next Right Thing” 46 and Indigenous people, and intergenerational responsibility in the real world. However, learning more about the real versions of environmental damage or colonial violence may elicit big emotions. Here, again, the potency of using Frozen 2 characters as models comes into play. Anna’s song “The Next Right Thing” would be a powerful way to model dealing with the unpleasant emotions that come along with damage, violence, and accepting responsibility. Environmental destruction and failed attempts at fixing it may produce strong climate emotions in children, including sadness or hopelessness, especially if the destruction in question has led to sickness or death for people or animals. Children may have heard adults complaining that environmental problems are too big or someone else’s responsibility. Discussing the lyrics of this song and encouraging students to apply Anna’s situation to their own potential feelings—say climate grief or climate anxiety—would pair well with social-emotional learning goals and give them additional language for when they may encounter these emotions. Having discussed their own potential as activists through the lens of Frozen 2, students can explore local environmental issues and consider how they can be resolved. Expanding this outside the film means taking the fictional agency depicted in the film, where nature spirits have the power to trap a whole forest and demand help from Elsa, and transferring that fantasy-based concept into conversations about what nature can do in real life and where it needs human help. Just as this framework establishes adults and children as collaborators, the final task is to frame research projects and activism as a collaboration with nature. Some possible resources to begin thinking about this collaboration might include The White House’s Nature Base Solutions Resource Guide, a 43-page document that includes a list of federal priorities for climate change reduction, the National Environmental Educational Foundation’s Citizen Science initiatives which includes a list of ongoing federal projects that require local volunteers such as tracking butterflies or frogs, or mapping bird habitats, and the National Science Teaching Association study on climate education in Alaska. While not directly accessible to elementary-aged students, these resources, along with the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), might help guide educators in thinking about student-led collaborative activism. References Bradford, Nick. (2022). “Citizens observing a changing climate.” NEEF. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.neefusa.org/nature/plants-and-animals/citizens-observing- changing-climate Frozen 2. (2016). Directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, Disney. Gaard, Greta. (2009). “Children's environmental literature: From ecocriticism to ecopedagogy.” Neohelicon, 36 (2), 321–34. doi: 10.1007/s11059-009-0003-7 Hayes, S., Arlon, P. & Pintachan, (2021). The extraordinary book that eats itself: Every page turns into an Eco project that helps you save the planet. Insight Editions. Kelley, T., & Hermansson, M. (2022). Listen to the language of the trees. Dawn Publications. Midkiff, E., & Austin, S. (2021). “The Disneyfication of climate crisis: Negotiating responsibility and climate action in Frozen, Moana, and Frozen 2.” The Lion and the Unicorn, 45 (2), 154-171. doi: 10.1353/uni.2021.0013 https://www.climatelit.org/topic/environmental-destruction/ https://www.climatelit.org/topic/climate-emotions/ https://www.climatelit.org/topic/climate-grief/ https://www.climatelit.org/topic/climate-anxiety/ https://www.climatelit.org/topic/nature/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Nature-Based-Solutions-Resource-Guide-2022.pdf https://www.neefusa.org/nature/plants-and-animals/citizens-observing-changing-climate https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-april-june-2018-0/connected-climate-change https://yparhub.berkeley.edu/home https://www.neefusa.org/nature/plants-and-animals/citizens-observing-changing-climate https://www.neefusa.org/nature/plants-and-animals/citizens-observing-changing-climate Climate Literacy in Education, Volume 1, Issue 1 (Spring 2023) 47 Schier Nolan, J. E. (2022). “YPAR Hub.” Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://yparhub.berkeley.edu/home Soontornvat, C., & Bell, R. J. (2022). To change a planet. Scholastic Press. Sorell, T., & Lessac Frané. (2019). We are grateful: Otsaliheliga. Findaway World, LLC. Spellman, K. V., Sparrow, E. B., Chase, M. J., Larson, A., & Kealy, K. (2018). “Connected climate change learning through citizen science.” NSTA. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-april-june- 2018-0/connected-climate-change White House Council on Environmental Quality, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, 2022. Nature-Based Solutions Resource Guide. Washington, D.C. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp- content/uploads/2022/11/Nature-Based-Solutions-Resource-Guide-2022.pdf https://yparhub.berkeley.edu/home https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-april-june-2018-0/connected-climate-change https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-april-june-2018-0/connected-climate-change https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Nature-Based-Solutions-Resource-Guide-2022.pdf https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Nature-Based-Solutions-Resource-Guide-2022.pdf Editorial Collective About CLE Acknowledgements Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 2023 Table of Contents Introduction: Climate Literacy as Resistance, Hope, and Activism Climate Change and Critical Literacy 11th Grade Language and Literature Climate Mini-Unit Abstract Keywords Overview Narrative Framing At a Glance Going Forward The Science Behind the Stories: A Research-Based Transdisciplinary Approach to Climate Literacy Abstract Keywords A Pedagogical Model for Exploring the Science Behind the Stories Real-World Performance Task Design Read the Narrative Explore the Science Reflect on Perspectives Analyze Contexts Examine Data Evaluate Solutions Collaborate to Problem-Solve Create and Communicate Demonstrate Learning Interested in Piloting a Climate Literacy Task? Seeing Through Water: The Impact of Our Decisions Abstract Keywords Overview Narrative Framing At a Glance Going Forward References Playing in a Patch of Dirt: Eleven Picturebooks and a Plug for Nearby Nature Abstract Keywords Acknowledgements References Reconnecting with Nature through Haiku Abstract Keywords Finding a Way Through: Teaching with Naomi Klein’s How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other Abstract Keywords References Andri Magnason’s The Story of the Blue Planet: Toward Ecotopia Abstract Keywords References Critical Dialogue: Climate Literacy in Context Abstract Keywords References What is Climate Literacy? Abstract Keywords References Beyond the Barnyard: Boardbooks and Other Big Lies We Tell about Industrial Farming Abstract Keywords References “The Next Right Thing”: Frozen 2 and Youth-Led Activism Abstract Keywords References You Are Here Artist Statement